Finance Office

Rita Norman
Fiscal Officer/Treasurer

Legal Services

Mark B. Jackson
Director

Personnel Office

LuAnne Worley
Director

Public Affairs

John Bankhead
Director

Staff Services

Dan Kirk
Director

Strategic Development

Gib Heuett
Director

Professional Standards

Jack White
Inspector

FINANCE OFFICE

Rita Norman, Fiscal Officer/Treasurer

Accounting

The accounting staff also is responsible for production of payroll for 813 state, 79 federal and 47 temporary employees, which generated 4,677 paychecks and 14,856 direct deposits in FY'00.

Budgeting

The Budget staff, comprised of a budget administrator and three analysts, manages and monitors all expenditures made by organizational units.

During the fiscal year, the budget staff developed a budget request for fiscal year 2001, which resulted in the appropriation of $61,790, 274 in state funds. In addition to state funds, this section also administers all grant awards.

Procurement

Throughout the year, the centralized Procurement Section processed more than 4,500 field purchase orders (FPOs), maintained more than 200 agency contracts and processed more than 120 requisitions. The number of FPOs decreased dramatically due to the extensive use of state purchasing cards. The purchasing card is an efficient way to purchase items, saving both time and money associated with processing FPOs.

FY'00: State Funds Budgeted by Division

Total State Budget - $61,417,150

Total Federal and Other Funds - $12,019,499

PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

Inspector Jack White

The Office of Professional Standards (OPS) is responsible for investigating allegations of misconduct made against GBI employees. The office reviews and investigates all complaints, determining whether they have legitimacy or lack merit. Each year the complaints are reviewed and studied, and then evaluated a second time to identify any patterns of misconduct. Based on those findings, the office then recommends appropriate actions and/or training.

During FY'00, OPS:

• Conducted 14 internal affairs investigations and reviewed three internal complaints.
• Conducted eight preliminary and nine administrative inquiries.
• Took 35 personnel actions.

LEGAL SERVICES

Mark Jackson, Director

Most notable was the transfer of an assistant deputy director (ADD) from the Division of Forensic Sciences (DOFS) to the OLS. As supervisor of the Open Records Section (ORS), the ADD, along with a secretary and two full-time, temporary employees, have now absorbed the open records requests previously handled by DOFS in addition to those typically received by OLS. This specialization was necessitated by changes in the Open Records Act, which became effective this fiscal year. Open records requests addressed by OLS increased from 180 in FY'99 to 1,782 in FY'00.

Additionally, the ADD's responsibilities include those of agency records custodian and records management officer. This entails representing the GBI in any judicial proceeding in which the records of the GBI are sought by court order, subpoena or request for production of documents. The office also coordinates efforts with all three divisions within the GBI as well as the Administrative Section to ensure that all outside requests for documents are properly authenticated, certified for court purposes, properly recorded, filed and disseminated to the appropriate work unit for response. In addition, ORS ensures that all three divisions and the Administrative Section are in compliance with the state's records retention standards and conducts special projects as directed by the Office of Legal Services. The Open Records Section also coordinates the copyrighting of designated GBI publications and assists in the preparation of proposed legislation. 

The newest addition to Legal Services is a staff attorney. The attorney assists the director of Legal Services in the areas of training development, provides counsel to the field, works in conjunction with the Attorney General’s Office on civil complaints involving GBI employees, acts as a liaison to district attorneys and the U.S. Attorney's Office, gives legal updates and provides legal advice regarding operational matters within the GBI. The new attorney is a welcome addition to the GBI and the Office of Legal Services.

Accomplishments for the fiscal year include:

• Handled the dramatic increase in open records requests as previously detailed.
• Assisted the Office of Professional Standards with 35 complaints, internal affairs investigations and adverse actions.
• Opened 29 new civil litigation cases.
• Handled 92 subpoenas and supervised the release of approximately 52,000 pages of records.
• Coordinated the release of more than 40 laboratory biological specimens.
• Designed records management spreadsheets and a database for the tracking of civil litigation cases.
• Testified in court and attended depositions.
• Submitted four online rules changes filed with the Secretary of State’s Office.
• Served as grievance hearing officer for the Office of State Administrative Hearings.
• Responded to four Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims (one was voluntarily dismissed by complainant, while no action was taken by the commission in the other three).
• Assisted in the drafting of new legislation in five areas.
• Provided legal instruction for in-service, new agents' and supervisors' training sessions at the Georgia Public Safety Training Center in Forsyth.

PERSONNEL OFFICE

LuAnne Worley, Director

The Office of Personnel is comprised of one part-time and seven full-time employees. The office is responsible for providing support to the three divisions and the Administrative Section of the GBI in all human resource matters. The routine responsibilities include the following: recruiting and hiring new employees, personnel transactions, employee relations, classifying positions, monitoring the compensation structure, establishing min-imum job qualifications, administering Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) services, administering the agency's drug screening program, overseeing the performance management process, assisting employees with benefits, serving as the liaison for workers' compensation, coordinating the student internship and youth apprenticeship programs, and managing the Employee Assistance Program  (EAP).

The Office of Personnel provided management training in evaluating employee performance and provided support staff training on changes and new benefits programs.

Throughout the year, the Office of Personnel worked with its Employee Assistance Program  vendor, Cameron & Associates, to coordinate “Managing Change in the 21st Century”, a program designed to assist supervisors in managing a diverse workforce. A comparable program, “Embracing Change in the 21st Century”, was presented to all non-supervising employees to help them understand the normal changes associated with working in a diverse workplace.

The Office of Personnel made a concerted effort to ensure that equal employment opportunities were available to a diverse population by making its job vacancy notices available to a variety of audiences and organizations.

This year, the Office of Personnel increased its use of electronic data. A new statewide human resource management system called PeopleSoft was implemented to expedite personnel actions more  efficiently, more recruitment was done through private and government Web sites, and more job applications were received over the Internet.

During FY'00:

• 2,065 applications for employment were received and processed.
• Nearly 750 personnel transactions were completed for promotions, new appointments, transfers, retirements and separations.
• More than 120 college student internship applications were processed and 39 students were placed into the program.

PUBLIC AFFAIRS

John Bankhead, Director

Along with its daily duties, the office also writes articles for law enforcement publications, publishes the annual report and recruiting brochures, compiles a monthly newsletter for retirees, produces informational and training videos and schedules public speaking engagements for agency officials.

The Public Affairs director also represents the agency at the Georgia General Assembly, maintains the GBI Web site and responds to the public’s requests for information via electronic mail.

Website

Since going online in 1998, the GBI Website has become one of the most frequented sites offered by a Georgia state agency. All three divisions of the GBI (Investigative, Georgia Crime Information Center and the Division of Forensic Sciences) are featured online, as well as crime statistics, information and photos of fugitives and missing persons.

The Sexually Violent Offender Registry is the most popular site offered by the GBI. Last year, 2.2 million users visited the GBI Website, with more than 1.2 million of those checking the sex offender registry. Over the past year, more than 500 mugshots have been posted to the sex offender page.

STAFF SERVICES

Dan Kirk, Director

Facility Management

The Facility Management Section worked on the following projects during FY'00:

• Construction was completed and operations began on the new Region 4 Office in Douglas, Coffee County. The previous office building was more than 50 years old.
• Construction on a new Western Regional Crime Lab in Columbus, Muscogee County, began in August 1999 and is expected to be completed in September 2000. This facility will replace the existing 28-year-old laboratory building and provide much needed modern laboratory space and a morgue facility. 
• Renovations at the Central Regional Crime Lab in Macon, Bibb County, have been completed and will provide the Medical Examiners’ Section with office space and a morgue facility. This will serve in the interim until the new Central Regional Crime Lab is completed in the spring of 2002.
• An architectural and engineering firm was hired to prepare plans for a new Eastern Regional Crime Lab in Augusta, Richmond County. This facility will replace the existing 24-year-old laboratory building and provide much needed modern laboratory space and a morgue facility. Construction on this project will begin in FY'01.
• An architectural and engineering firm was hired and has  completed plans for an approximately 75,000-square-foot laboratory addition and freestanding morgue at the GBI Headquarters Complex. This annex will house crime lab administration and three operational units of the crime lab including the Medical Examiners' Section.
• The Atrium in-fill project at the Headquarters Complex was completed in late spring 2000. This project provided approximately 1,800 square feet of open office space for the newly-centralized Procurement Section and a work unit from Finance.
• The Headquarters Complex's security access and monitoring system had to be replaced to comply with Year 2000 (Y2K) standards. Through the Request for Proposal process, Security Link was selected as the vendor for the new system. As a result, GBI Headquarters has a sophisticated security system, including proximity readers, biometric readers and cameras, which provide the necessary security for our operational units.
• The partnership between GBI and our contracted maintenance and operations service provider has been a tremendous success.  During this contract year, we have continued to repair and upgrade critical building systems, enhancing GBI's ability to meet its mission requirements. In addition, the building's appearance was enhanced through new landscaping, the sealing and striping of the parking lot, and the cleaning  of the aluminum awnings.

Construction to a new Region 4 Investigative Office in Douglas, Coffee County, was complete during FY'00. The facility replaced an existing building that was 50 years old.

The western region of the state received a new, modernized crime lab during FY'00. Construction on the lab, located in Columbus, Muscogee County, was complete in the fall of 2000.

Fleet & Property

The Fleet and Property Section manages the GBI's fleet of more that 500 vehicles and reconciles inventory. In order to meet Year 2000 (Y2K) compliance issues, this section utilized two new software programs. As part of a statewide initiative, PeopleSoft is being utilized for property and inventory. Fleet Anywhere is a very powerful fleet management software package and is being installed not only at the headquarters facility but also at each regional office. The program will allow supervisors to input and view information regarding their assigned vehicles. This software will increase our fleet management efficiency, saving the agency time and money.

Other Support Services

During FY'00, Staff Services also was responsible for  providing departmental telecommunications management, records/archives management, risk management, along with the preparation of GBI credentials, security and access management.

STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT

Gib Heuett, Director

The strategic directions for FY'00 focused on the following:

• The GBI will continue to provide the essential scientific, technical, crime information and investigative services critical to public safety and Georgia's criminal justice system.
• The GBI will ensure that it carries out its mission by recruiting and retaining a skilled and diverse workforce motivated by a commitment to excellence.
• The GBI will utilize advanced technology to ensure that it can effectively and efficiently carry out its mission.
• Via the planning process, the GBI will continually evaluate its services to ensure that it is meeting the needs of its customers.
• The GBI will partner with other agencies to focus on statewide issues related to education and public safety.
• The GBI will continue to provide state and national leadership in the areas of crime laboratory quality and applied research.
• In addition to strategic issues, the office managed and supported projects in the following areas:
• Legislation: Proposed and supported both state and federal legislation, including the National Forensic Sciences Improvement Act (NFSIA).
• Grants: Coordinated and assisted with grant projects for the GBI. Particularly critical this year were new grants developed to support child abuse investigations.
• Results Based Budgeting (RBB): Coordinated with other state agencies in developing an RBB for the GBI.
• e-GBI team: Worked to further the agency’s goal of fully integrating GBI operations into e-commerce and maximize the potential use of the Internet in daily operations.
• GBI Mass Disaster Team: Developed a plan that outlines the GBI’s role in responding to incidents of mass disaster.
• Smog reduction efforts: The GBI was recognized as a platinum-level partner with the Partnership for a Smog Free Georgia (PSG).

Director of Strategic Development Gib Heuett is one of many GBI employees who spent New Year's Eve 1999 at the Georgia Emergency Management Agency's (GEMA) operations center. The state was well prepared for any problems that Y2K may have unleashed.

LEGISLATIVE & GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS

By cultivating these relationships, GBI was placed by name in the U.S. Senate budget for  $650,000 to the crime laboratory. The direct allocation of the funds is under negotiations, but Georgia Sen. Max Cleland's Office feels strongly that the money will stay in the budget.

The National Forensic Sciences Improvement Act (NFSIA) took a front seat in the appropriations process, with GBI leading the charge on behalf of the States' Coalition. Georgia legislators, the late Sen. Paul Coverdell and Congress-man Sanford Bishop, introduced the legislation in 1999. If approved, the legislation could result in $482 million in funding to the nation’s crime labs for improvements to forensic sciences. Georgia is expected to receive at least $9 million.

During FY'00, the co-sponsors of the bill grew from three to 13 in the Senate and two to 36 in the House. The GBI coordinated a States' Coalition meeting and Legislative Breakfast on the U.S. Capitol compound in Washington, D.C. to educate legislators on the issues. About 250 leaders attended the event in support of NFSIA and were further educated in the needs of the forensics community. In light of Sen. Coverdell's untimely passing, Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama reintroduced the legislation in the late senator’s memory.

During FY'00, funding efforts also were enhanced to keep alive the Gulf States Initiative (GSI), funded through the U.S. Department of Defense. GSI was established by Congress in 1992 and is a cooperative effort between Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana with a focus on combating illegal drug trade, terrorism and organized criminal activity.

Other initiatives also were researched throughout the year, including a future partnership with the Georgia delegation for the construction of a Level-4 Morgue facility to be housed at the GBI and utilized in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control.

Legislative Session

The GBI spearheaded eight pieces of legislation, which were all successfully passed during the 2000 Legislative Session.  Below is a synopsis of each:

• Senate Bill (SB) 318, sponsored by Senator Greg Hecht, with strong support  by Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor, expanded the DNA database to include DNA profiles from all convicted felons housed in or entering the Georgia prison system. Prior to the legislation, the database, overseen by the Forensic Biology/Serology Section of the crime lab, consisted of DNA profiles of convicted sexual offenders only. For those felons currently incarcerated, swabs will be taken prior to their release.
• House Resolution (HR) 932, sponsored by Representative Ralph Twiggs, urged Congress to support the National Forensic Sciences Improvement Act (NFSIA).
• Senate Resolution (SR) 525, sponsored by Senator Rooney Bowen, urged Congress to support the National Forensic Sciences Improvement Act.
• House Bill (HB) 613, sponsored by Representative Curtis Jenkins, allowed GCIC to electronically disseminate felony convictions.
• HB 1392, sponsored by Representative Curtis Jenkins, changed the current law to no longer allow an exemption for P.O.S.T (Peace Officer Standards and Training) certified officers from background checks when purchasing weapons.
• SB 356, sponsored by Senator Michael Meyer von Bremen, mandates GCIC audits, which are currently being done according to the Rules of the GCIC Council. This will allow funding to be appropriated when federal grant dollars no longer exist. These audits are critical in ensuring background checks for gun purchases and for preemployment checks.
• SB 392, sponsored by Senator Terrell Starr, added additional bomb-making components from the Federal Registry to Georgia's explosive materials law.
• HB 1576, sponsored by Representative Jim Stokes, provided a revision to current laws to include emergency electronic surveillance. This is needed in times of hostage and barricaded gunman situations. The bill also allows a wiretap to be manned in a county where prosecution should take place. Until now, a command post had to be established in the county where the illegal activity was occurring. Our thanks to Rep. Stokes for allowing HB 1643 to be amended into his legislation.

Budget Requests

The Office of Legislative & Intergovernmental Affairs, in partnership with the GBI Finance Office, focused on support needed for budget requests.

This session saw the following budget allocations for the agency:

FY'00 Amended Budget

• New lab and morgue in Macon.
• Morgue and toxicology lab in Savannah.
• New Region 6 Investigative Office in Milledgeville.
• All of these facilities will be funded with 20-year bonds).
• $500,000 for the design, land purchase and site preparation of a satellite crime lab in Northeast Georgia.
• $260,000 to continue timely record processing within the Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) and the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS).
• $517,966 for the Crime Lab’s new Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).
• $125,634 to match federal funds for the State Health Care Fraud Control Unit.
• $540,877 to complete annual salaries for 83 lab positions provided last year.

FY'00 Amended Budget

• $720,000 for SB 318 expanding the DNA database.
• $110,000 for seven vehicles and operating expenses for the hiring of additional special agents for Regional Drug Enforcement Offices (RDEO).

CHAPLAINCY PROGRAM EXPANSION

Because the spiritual well-being of employees sometimes gets overlooked, the GBI expanded its Chaplaincy Program during FY'00. Nineteen ministers from across the state were appointed to the program, joining three senior chaplains.

Under the direction of Deputy Assistant Director (DAD) Moses Ector, the chaplains are responsible for visiting the sick, attending agency ceremonies and functions, and responding to calls when requested to do so. Their main objective, however, is to provide spiritual support to employees.

“The GBI is the type of agency that deals with crises every day, and sometimes we overlook the impact it has on our people,” said GBI Director Milton E. Nix, Jr. “We appreciate the spiritual dimension that the chaplains are bringing to our organization.”

The agency will add some dimension to the ministers lives as well. As GBI chaplains, they are required to become certified chaplains through Georgia P.O.S.T. (Peace Officer Standards and Training). With law enforcement training, the ministers will have a better understanding of what employees in the field face on a daily basis.

Supervisors from the agency’s 15 regional offices selected the new chaplains, who come from a variety of religious affiliations. Until now, the GBI only had three chaplains to serve the entire state.

“We are pleased to have such a fine group of ministers working with us,” said DAD Ector, “and the program will be expanded as the needs arise.”

There is no monetary compensation offered and the chaplains devote their time on a voluntary basis.

In October 1999, Judge Arthur M. Kaplan (center) was recognized for his lifelong service to public safety when he received a Governor’s Public Safety Award for outstanding contribution to the citizens of Georgia. He was nominated by the GBI. An Atlanta Municipal Court judge, Kaplan also is a trained medical technician and has dedicated more than 30 years of his life to training public safety personnel in emergency medical and Red Cross first aid procedures. More than 15,000 individuals, including GBI agents, federal agents and local police officers, have benefited from his instruction. Kaplan has also treated an estimated 27,000 people who have been in need of emergency assistance. Pictured with Kaplan is GBI Director Milton E. Nix Jr. (left) and GBI Assistant Director Vernon Keenan (right).